Tools

[Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided>]

Hey -

Just a short riff on Craftsman stuff: 'way back when
the world was new, an acquaintance of mine found a
very rusty Craftsman 6-point socket embedded in the
back yard of a house he'd just bought, so he cleaned
it up and threw it in his toolbox. A year or so later,
he was trying to resurrect a Chevy 409 engine that
he'd gotten from a salvage yard, and as he was having
difficulties removing the long-stuck-on head, and the
rescued Craftsman socket was the correct size, he put
it on a headbolt with a breakover bar and a 3' pipe
for a cheater and leaned real hard, and the socket was
what gave up first. He took it to Sears and got a new
one, no questions asked. Gotta love that.

This is kinda like those stories about Zippo lighters
that got run over by tanks etc., but which were
replaced because that's what the company promised.
Isn't it interesting how many of America's national
legends are about mechanical devices? Samuel Colt,
Samuel Morse, Henry Ford, Henry Leland, Ransom
Olds...these guys are about as vital to the history of
our nation as Washington, Jefferson, or any of the
Adams gang. Mark Twain's "Connecticut Yankee In King
Arthur's Court" was - is - a wonderful meditation on
that theme.

Will Owen
Pasadena, CA
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! 
http://auctions.yahoo.com

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